Haggis at Howies in Edinburgh

I wanted to try haggis, so we had to find a restaurant serving some traditional Scottish fare. That’s how we stumbled upon Howies. We had passed many restaurants after visiting Edinburgh Castle, but none of the menus looked enticing. There were a lot of fish ’n chips, meat pies, and fish chowders—not that there was anything wrong with these—but everything sounded like greasy bar food, so when we found a bistro type eatery up a hill serving lunch specials, we put our names on the list.Howies isn’t super cheap, but nothing so far in the UK has been. You can get a two- or three-course lunch at a set price. I had cullen skink for my first course—a creamy soup with smoked fish and potatoes—and the haggis and potatoes for my second. Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish made of sheep offal (heart, lungs, kidneys, liver); mixed with suet, spices, and oats; and then stuffed in its stomach lining before cooking. Sounds great, huh?Everything was surprisingly pleasant, and service was uber-friendly. The cullen skink is similar to a fish chowder, while the haggis reminded me of boudin, but with oats instead of rice. The hubs tried the haggis burger (haggis on top of a hamburger patty), but he found this to be a little overkill.We followed up our lunch with toffee pudding, which came out of the oven and straight to our table. It was piping hot and looked extra gooey and caramelicious, but surprisingly mild in sweetness. Yes, it was sweet, but I was expecting something almost unbearably sugary. It was no tipsy cake from Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, but it’ll do as a tipsy cake from Howies.I was told by our server at Dinner by Heston that Edinburgh has the best food scene in the UK after London. Where is your favorite place to dine in Edinburgh?HowiesMultiple locations